Yesterday I started a new top. Here is a preview.
[img]http://igneus_cz.users.sourceforge.net/images/tmw/summer-top-preview.png[/img]
Is it usable at all (I mean the style, not how it is painted)? And what should a male variant look like (I don't know if all equipment has to have both male and female variant - possibly not...) ?

I think there is nothing wrong with making the same piece of equipment look different for male and female characters, especially when it is of the more revealing kind. In the spirit of gender equality it should of course be equally sexy for both men and women and of course the style should be the same so that you can see that it is the same item. But beyond anatomical necessities the design of the female version should be more feminine while the male should be more masculine. Otherwise it would just look silly on the wrong gender.

An example for this is the light platemail I made. When you look at it closely you will notice that the female version not only got breasts but it also got a V-shaped neck hole while the male version has a round one. initially I also wanted to use another shape for the shoulder pads, but I dropped the idea because I found no design which looked good, feminine AND was easy to animate.

Of course you will always have one raving feminist (female AND male ones) on your throat for every pixel you leave uncovered when doing ANY female sprite, but whatever you do you can't please everyone, so there is no reason to try. When someone complains just point out that noone is forced to wear the equipment you create.

former Manasource Programmer

former TMW Pixel artist

NOT a game master

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Here is another preview.
[img]http://igneus_cz.users.sourceforge.net/images/tmw/summer-top-preview2.png[/img]

Trying to make the male version "equally sexy" actually means motion away from my primary goal, because when I openned GIMP yesterday, I first wanted to make a dress, but then left the idea because I realized that I can't shade the "skirt" part properly.
So what I'm trying to do shouldn't be on a first place "sexy" or "revealing", but somehow "representative" (i.e. something you put on when you are going to some social event). Thinking in this way, better male variant would probably be something like a shirt.

I am also not sure if something like what I designed as a male version of this top is already in the game or not - it looks somehow familiar to me...

I wasn't able to find any really good male equivalent.
Thus I threw away the previous concept and started something a bit different.
[img]http://igneus_cz.users.sourceforge.net/images/tmw/shirt-preview1.png[/img]

the clothes look very nice, but they are totally different..
i rather suggest, making 2 (4) different clothes out of it, so every would be looking more the same for male and female (and if you think its looking too "gay" for a boy wearing the female outfit, for example, you dont have to buy and wear it at all.)

I'm not sure if this is a good advice. You know, I don't like spending hours by making something nobody will want to wear (like typically female clothes which need to be the same for males just to have some weird equality).
But if it's normal here, I'll do so. But feedback of some "bosses of Graphic Development" would help me a lot...

Btw. I've seen skirt in the game. First I thought that it's female version of cotton shorts, but then I saw it in the list of items as a separate item. Does it mean that there is skirt for men too?

igneus wrote:I'm not sure if this is a good advice. You know, I don't like spending hours by making something nobody will want to wear (like typically female clothes which need to be the same for males just to have some weird equality).
But if it's normal here, I'll do so. But feedback of some "bosses of Graphic Development" would help me a lot...

Btw. I've seen skirt in the game. First I thought that it's female version of cotton shorts, but then I saw it in the list of items as a separate item. Does it mean that there is skirt for men too?

All current clothing has either matching male and female sprites or uses the same sprite for both. The skirt uses the same sprite for both. Nothing is single gender only.

I'm not sure if this is a good advice. You know, I don't like spending hours by making something nobody will want to wear (like typically female clothes which need to be the same for males just to have some weird equality).

i think, some ppl would like to wear it. and others, who'd find it weird, don't have to wear it. so everyone could be happy. but i understand that you don't want to "waste" time for things that seem "weird" to you.